‘Tis the season.
No, not Christmas season nor even the season of other proper holidays like Thanksgiving or Daylight Savings . Indeed, those lovely days will be coming soon. Has anybody else noticed the pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks or the sweet promise of winter break just around the corner? Added to that, cold northern winds are blowing across the bluffs to prompt many a resident to turn on the fireplace in their dorm lobby. And, as I have heard from the experts, there is a certain special spot somewhere along the side of the fireplace where your face can be half wonderfully warm and half comfortably cool. So it’s perfect. Just give me one of those pumpkin spice lattes and my snuggly body pillow and I don’t need anything else in the world. Anything.
Now that I have sufficiently digressed to get you thinking about the Holiday Life, let’s talk about this season (and not the beautiful upcoming glory season). Instead, now is the season for pictures at the pier, borrowed dresses, and party buses. In other words: formal season. With seven of the eight sororities and all five of the fraternities hosting formals that occur within the span of a couple weekends in November, teenage angst reminiscent of the good ol’ high school prom days undoubtedly arises. Questions such as: “what is the theme?” or “who should I ask?” or “what should I wear?” plague many students to the point of desperation.
One girl told me that she tossed and turned into the night racking her brain for a creative way to ask her blind date (she ended up making a poster that spelled out F O R M A L in candy). Another person I know had a code name for his plan to ask his date: Operation Time Change. And yet another crazy person borrowed her friend’s ukulele and played a song outside of her date’s window at midnight.
And you want to know my opinion? I mean, that is what this column is for. My opinion. Two beautiful words: “ my” and “opinion”. Put together with “formal”, I only have this to say: the more creative the better. Make a poster of Twizzlers and Double-Stuffed Oreos if you so desire. Spend four or five weeks planning your own Operation Time Change. Borrow a ukulele or a guitar or a five-piece string quartet. Always include flowers for girls and food for boys. Just get a bunch of balloons when all else fails. Have fun, dear friends. Formal is one of those things that only exists while we attend school. The minute we graduate, poof goes formal.
Take a friend. Take a boyfriend or girlfriend or a potential of either category. Take a suitemate who hates Greek life but who secretly would kill to go to a formal just for the excuse to get that new pair of heels. Oh and definitely go with the theme (I’ve heard one of them is a masquerade…too legitimate for words). And ayo waves.